Quantum Mechanics GRE

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AriAstronomer
Posts: 76
Joined: Thu May 12, 2011 4:53 pm

Quantum Mechanics GRE

Post by AriAstronomer » Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:28 am

Hey guys,
The quantum prep so far I've encountered has been less than sufficient, and there seem to be very few problems in the QM dept. that can be accomplished in 2 minutes or less, unless it's qualitative. Let's say I pull out my trusty intro to QM griffiths book, what sections are relevant. Should I be knowing the radial part/angular part of wave functions and memorizing all the Y00, Y01, etc. combinations (I'm being specific here since I encountered a question requiring this knowledge in the purple book)? We only really went up to ch 4 (right before the hydrogen atom), but most questions I ever remember doing are pages long....

Or should I maybe just focus on chapter 2, memorize all the important results, skipping the derivations (I know I know, to be a physicist you should understand these derivations, I'm just talking about prep for the GRE where speed is key) and memorizing the results for free particle, ISW, FSW, etc? Would Formalism be relevant?

Any feedback would be really helpful.
Ari

physicsworks
Posts: 80
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2010 8:00 am

Re: Quantum Mechanics GRE

Post by physicsworks » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:42 am

I would recommend to review QM using "Schaum's outline of theory and problems". This will give you at least 80% of information you need to remember from your undergraduate QM course. During review if you feel that some concepts are still hard for you to grasp --- read Griffiths to refresh your QM.
As for radial part/angular part of wave functions and all that kind of stuff, personally I think it is enough to remember how these things look like.

AriAstronomer
Posts: 76
Joined: Thu May 12, 2011 4:53 pm

Re: Quantum Mechanics GRE

Post by AriAstronomer » Fri Jun 03, 2011 9:27 am

We only covered up to the beginning of chapter 4 though in my intro qm class. Do you think I should go through chapter's 4 and 5 as well?
Ari

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WhoaNonstop
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Re: Quantum Mechanics GRE

Post by WhoaNonstop » Fri Jun 03, 2011 4:06 pm

AriAstronomer wrote:We only covered up to the beginning of chapter 4 though in my intro qm class. Do you think I should go through chapter's 4 and 5 as well?
Ari
I truly think that the first four chapters are the most important for the Physics GRE. Chapter 5 may be useful. I wouldn't look anything past that. Plus, the quantum questions always seem very straight forward, so just understanding the basic concepts and setup for solving the "typical scenarios" is best.

-Riley



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